Ridiculed in the West, Apple's iOS 6 Maps are instead praised in China

While many around the world have slammed Apple's new mapping software in iOS 6, the company has built a special version of Maps for China that has been praised as a "huge improvement over Google Maps," though it lacks some new features due to Chinese laws.

Maps in China in iOS 6 (left) are more detailed than the previous Google Maps (right). Screenshots via Anthony Drendel.

Apple's Maps in China are more detailed than competitors thanks to data provided by AutoNavi Holdings, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. It is the most widely used mobile mapping service in china, making navigation systems, virtual maps and satellite images.

However, Apple's special version of Maps in China does not integrate data from TomTom, which is used for mapping data around the world outside of China. As a result, Chinese users who want to look at other countries outside of their own cannot access landmarks or public transit stops.

Apple's unique-to-China maps also lack spoken turn-by-turn directions, or the 3D flyover feature that is available to other worldwide users on the iPhone 5, iPhone 4S and new iPad.

Instead, users in China can only access written directions, and satellite imagery for other countries is displayed in black.

The problem comes from the fact that only 11 companies in China have licenses to do comprehensive mapping, according to the Journal. Half of those companies only support the government and do not make commercial-level products.

Citing an unnamed source, Wednesday's report said that integrating AutoNavi apps from China with other data from around the world would be an incredibly complex undertaking, which is why the detailed mapping data is restricted to China.

Still, user Anthony Drendel wrote on his blog that iOS 6 Maps are "a huge improvement over Google Maps" for the 1.3 billion people who live in China. There, he said, Google Maps "was always pretty terrible."

"In the big cities and tourist centers, it was passable," he said. "once you left China's large metropolises, however, you were pretty much on your own."

But with the use of AutoNavi in China, iOS 6 Maps now have far greater detail than Google Maps provides. Google's hands are tied because the search company is not among the 11 mapping companies authorized by the Chinese government.

"In my experience, the new version of Maps zooms in much further, shows more points of interest, clearly labels banks and cellphone shops (China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom), and gives the locations of ATMs and public restrooms (my original iPad running iOS 6 doesn't show either of those things)," Drendel wrote. "The killer feature, though, is that iOS Maps shows both English names and Chinese characters for everything, whereas Google-powered Maps only shows the English translation."

With the release of iOS 6 last week, Apple officially dropped Google Maps data for its built-in Maps application on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Instead, the company how offers its own in-house solution that users have said is not as good as Google's offering found in previous releases of iOS.

I've been using iOS 6 maps for 3 days now and have had no problems. Everything has worked great and they are extremely fast. The detail isn%u2019t what Google Maps were but everything where I live is located where it should be.

I did have an occasion or two using Google Maps and they ended up taking me to incorrect places. Same with my Garmin. It took me to a remote mountain location once and I was lost for an hour.

Three days isn%u2019t much time using the maps but so far they%u2019ve been perfect for me. Again they are super fast and I%u2019m impressed with the speed in which they find things. The turn-by-turn works great. I%u2019m please with them and they will only get better during the next few months.

What's interesting to me is that the maps and satellite photos in Apple's maps are lined up, but the Google maps are not (Check Tienanmen Square in Beijing, for example). I was always told that was a rule for mapping in China-things must be slightly off. GPS is also supposed to be slightly off in China, too.

I used to live in Beijing and that was always slightly annoying, but the fact that it's fixed in Apple's maps makes me wonder who Google angered or who Apple bought...

Now all Apple has to do is get the iPhone available with the, by far, largest mobile provider in China (China Mobile, has about 650 million subscribers or so) and they might be able to make some hay out of this.

Apple is hoping to ink a deal in the spring of 2013 - they didn't have a phone that worked on the China mobile tech previously (I believe).

Now all Apple has to do is get the iPhone available with the, by far, largest mobile provider in China (China Mobile, has about 650 million subscribers or so) and they might be able to make some hay out of this.

Apple is hoping to ink a deal in the spring of 2013 - they didn't have a phone that worked on the China mobile tech previously (I believe).

Right around 700 million now. They show 693 million for the end of August and have been adding about 6-7 million per month for awhile now.

I wonder how many of those 1.3 billion people can actually afford iPhones?

Does it matter really? That's their problem.

There are plenty of people in this country (USA) who are unemployed/semi-employed or just plain broke and probably can't afford an iPhone either. You don't have to go all the way to China to find people who can't afford an iPhone.